Training in the city's electronic grant management system -- which is required for human service funding applications this year -- will be offered at the following times and locations: Monday: 10 a.m. to noon, the Baltic Room, 3482 Broadway, Boulder

LONGMONT -- It's time for helping hands to apply for city funds again. But this year the process and the priorities are a little different.

Longmont's human service agencies have about two more weeks to apply for a piece of the roughly $1 million that the City Council awards in grants each year. But based on a study that the city did earlier in the year, top priority will be given to groups that either meet basic needs or help children.

"We conducted a more comprehensive human needs assessment in 2013, with the intent of looking a little more deeply," said Karen Roney, the city's community services director. "We wanted to really look at what needs are the most pressing needs here in Longmont."

About 80 percent of the available funding will go to those two priorities. The "basic needs" groups, ones that help with food, housing and similar fundamentals, were underlined as essential even before the St. Vrain-Left Hand flood hit in September, Roney said.

Advertisement

"Certainly, there will be a lot of basic needs," she said. "But that was a high priority anyhow."

The other 20 percent will go to programs that increase adult self-reliance.

The total human services funding is based on 1.6 percent of the general fund, so if the money available is higher than estimates -- and this year, it could be, by about $25,000 -- any additional funds will go toward groups that emphasize a safer community.

Groups began turning in their requests at the beginning of October and have until 5 p.m. Nov. 4 to get their applications in. This year, all applications have to be turned in online through the city's grant management system, e-CImpact, which is also used by the city of Boulder and Boulder County.

Roney said the change was made so that all three governments could have an easier time tracking the impact of each grant. Anyone applying has to attend a training session on the system. Sessions are available:

Between 10 a.m. and noon Monday, at the Baltic Room, 3482 Broadway in Boulder.

For more information, call 303-774-4339 for help from Longmont, 303-441-4059 for Boulder, or 303-441-3839 for Boulder County.

Before Longmont divides its funds, there are a couple of pre-commitments. About $190,000 is being set aside for year four of the RISE program, Longmont's pilot anti-poverty initiative. Another $150,000 or so -- the exact number hasn't been set yet -- will be designated for the city's child-care certificate program, which helps up make up the difference between what a child-care provider charges and what the state gives low-income families for help.

That leaves roughly $690,000 in the pot. There's usually about 30 to 35 applicants for that money; around 30 typically get funded, though not always at the requested level. As of Thursday evening, 29 applicants had signed up for the computer training.

This year's applicants could be more varied than usual. In another change to the process, agencies do not have to be nonprofit, but can be private or public, for profit or nonprofit, or even another governmental agency. What it can't be is a startup; the grants are for established groups providing direct aid.

The process occasionally has been controversial. In 2011, anti-abortion residents protested a proposed $14,000 grant to the Boulder Valley Women's Health Center for its Longmont location, and the group withdrew its request. The health center's Longmont site does not provide abortions; its Boulder site does, but can't use taxpayer funds to cover the cost under federal law.

The City Council will make its decision in January. That call usually comes in October, but the changes in the procedure caused some delays this year, Roney said.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story